


Vampirical

by KaixChan



Category: Numb3rs
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Incest, M/M, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-28
Updated: 2015-01-28
Packaged: 2018-03-09 11:36:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3248234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaixChan/pseuds/KaixChan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Don thinks vampires don't exist. He's about to be shown how wrong he is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Vampirical

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Miistical](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miistical/gifts).



> ~~Too lazy to tag every character and besides, Don and Charlie are the mains so there's my logic.~~
> 
> I am immensely satisfied with this. Vampire!Charlie has always been my bias and I wanted to write him for a long time, but I could never find the plot to. Thanks to my kohai (who this work is gifted to), I found inspiration to complete this little (little? More like huge (to me)) piece.
> 
> Commentary and feedback is appreciated, and stick around; I might continue this if the muse strikes me.

“Morning, boss,” Nikki says to Don as she makes her way to her cubicle. “Have you heard about these weird murders?” she asks, eyebrow raised in curiosity. 

“Yeah. The victims don’t have a drop of blood left in their system. The only evidence is a pair of marks on their necks or wrist. It’s,” Don pauses and contemplates his vocabulary, “odd,” is the word he settles on. 

“It sounds like vampires to me,” Colby muses, a file in his hand. “But we know those guys don’t exist, so maybe it’s some cult pretending to be vampires.”

“That doesn’t answer how two little marks drain them of blood,” David pipes up from his corner in the bullpen. “And where’s Charlie, anyway? We could probably use his help on this.”

“That’s the thing; Charlie hasn’t been around for two weeks. I’ve exhausted every resource finding him but there’s nothing. It’s like he disappeared off the face of the planet.” Don pushes a hand through his short hair, big brother concern winning momentarily over the bizarre murders being thrown at them. “Dad is going nuts worrying over him. If this is just one of his impromptu disappearances, I’m going to kick his ass when I see him.” He shakes himself. “What do we have?”

“The victims range. Young, old, male, female, Caucasian, African American, Hispanic… There’s no pattern that anyone can find. It really seems that this guy or guys are picking people at random.” Colby says, waving the file. “The one commonality is all the crimes happen at night.”

“These perps must be either hermits or vampires,” Liz cuts in when she enters the office. “I wouldn’t rule out vampires so easily, you guys.”

“C’mon, Liz. Those… things don’t exist,” Don says with a shrug. “We’ve got a bunch of guys somehow draining blood by two puncture marks. Could be a variety of things besides fictional characters.”

Liz gives off an irritated sigh before waving her own file. “You asked me to do some digging to find out where Charlie was; well, I did. I came up with this.” She opens the file and hands it to her boss. “A witness said she saw someone who fit Charlie’s description wandering around, at night, like he was on a mission.”

“That little shit,” Don curses, skimming through the file and looking at the pictures. The man looked a lot like his little brother, but it was too dark to make out anything distinctive. “Where was this?”

“Not far from this building, surprisingly. If that _is_ Charlie, he’s not coming out during the day and coming out when the sun goes down,” Liz answers, looking at her colleagues. “I know vampires are fictional, but science is a powerful thing. It might have found a way to create real ones.”

“That’s a good point.” Nikki looks up from her computer. “While you’ve all been talkin’, I did a little research. These murders are happening in parts of the world. India, China, Canada, England. How much do you want to bet this isn’t a coincidence?”

“It could be an epidemic like the Sniper Zero case,” Don argues, though it’s a weak argument and he knows it. He was like his brother in a lot of ways; one of them being that he didn’t believe in something until it was proven in some way. Hell, he only believed in psychics because they did a reading on him and told him things no one else should have known. “You can’t be thinking these things exist,” he says after a minute of silence passes.

“There’s no other reason why the exact same murders happened all over the world,” Colby replies rationally, setting his file down and leaning against the wall. “Now that we know what we’re up against, what kills these freaks?”

“Holy water. Stakes to the heart. They can be burned by their religious symbols.” The printer makes a noise before it starts printing. “Here; one for everyone.” Nikki hands one to each FBI agent, though Don stares at his with barely concealed irritation. “Boss, I know you don’t want to believe it, but maybe shut off your mind to it and focus on the facts?”

“Yeah, sure,” Don says airly, dark eyes skimming through the words and images.

“Charlie’s a scientist,” David comments after a few minutes, causing the agents to look at him with curiosity (or, in Don’s case, irritation). “What if he’s a victim and he’s--”

“My brother is _not_ one of those _things_!” their leader exclaims, making everyone jerk back in surprise. “We don’t even know if they exist; you’re all making wild assumptions.” He gets up angrily and puts on his jacket. “Tell me when you have real facts, not fictional bullshit.”

Liz barely gets out of the way as Don storms past her. “I think we hit a nerve.”

_Yep,_ everyone agrees silently.

-v-

Don drives aimlessly for hours, anger boiling his blood. Here he thought his team were rational and tried all the options before jumping to something inconclusive, but that analogy was thrown out the window the moment they all resigned themselves to the fact _vampires_ exist.

“Bullshit,” he says for the umpteenth time that night. He’s so absorbed in his thoughts that he doesn’t hear screaming, but once his brain comes back online, he hears it loud and clear and he parks his SUV. Getting out, he holds his flashlight and gun, eyes darting around as the screaming intensifies. He hears something squish under his boot and looks down, biting back the bile that rises in his throat. Blood. Lots of blood.

His flashlight comes across a girl, no older than seventeen, and someone latched on her neck. She’s flailing and screaming, trying to kick and punch the… _thing_ away from her, but it’s useless. Don raises his gun, letting off a few quick rounds, enough to startle it and make it move away. However, once he notices _who_ it was, his blood freezes and eyes widen.

“Charlie?”

Charlie growls and hisses, his fingers flexing. The girl staggers off, leaving the brothers to stand a few feet away from each other. “Charlie, jesus, what _happened_ to you?”

“You ruined my meal,” Charlie says, moving towards Don with the grace of a dangerous animal. “But you smell better,” he adds, licking his lips, blood dripping down his chin. “Much better.” He grins. “I won’t kill you, but I’ll make you remember this.”

Don barely has time to move before Charlie speeds towards him, hands gripping his arms like branding iron and the sickening smell of blood invading his nose. It makes him gag, almost, and Don tries to shove Charlie away from him, yet his brother doesn’t budge. Since when was he stronger? “Charlie, c’mon, you don’t want to do… whatever the hell you’re about to.”

“On the contrary,” Charlie counters, smirking, “little human, I want to. Very badly. You smell divine.” His tongue darts out and licks the pulse point on Don’s neck, causing him to gasp and jerk. Within seconds, a burning sensation enters his veins and it takes all his willpower not to let out a pathetic whimper at it. “Mm, _yes_ ,” Charlie growls, his fingers digging in his brother’s arms and Don knows he’ll have bruises there tomorrow. “Perfect.”

Here are the facts as Don understands them. One, vampires exist, so he’ll have to apologize to his team. Two, his brother is one and seemingly forgot who he was. Three, said brother was drinking from him. His muscles quiver after a few minutes and his breathing comes out in pants, yet Charlie seems to choose that moment to pull away and lick his lips.

“That was… heavenly,” his younger brother murmurs, eyes widening a little when he realizes who was standing in front of him. “Don? Oh g--” Charlie gags and coughs. “What are you doing here? You’re not supposed to _be here._ ”

“The bigger question is where the fuck have you been?” Don counters, the same anger from before simmering his blood, or what was left of it. “And how the hell did you become,” he gestures vaguely at his baby brother, “ _this?_ ”

“I don’t know,” Charlie murmurs, sounding contrite. “One minute I was with Amita, and the next I was in an alleyway. She said this was my new life.” He scrunches his face. “Apparently I got shot at while we were out and Amita Turned me to preserve my existence.”

“Wait, hold on. Amita is a vampire?” 

“Yes, from what I could gather. I haven’t seen her since… how long ago was August 23rd?”

“Two weeks ago.” Don manfully resists the urge to bash his head against the nearest concrete wall. “I thought you were dead. I guess you are dead but still--”

Charlie licks his lips again and wipes his hand against his mouth, then immediately licks at any excess blood lingering there. “I know. This is hard for me too. I never imagined my life would be resorted to… this.”

“Buddy, you have to tell me. You haven’t killed anyone, have you? You said you wouldn’t kill me, but I don’t know if I’m a special case.” It’s a question Don doesn’t want to ask, but he figures someone has to.

“I don’t… think so. I can’t remember.” 

“It’s just, a series of murders caused by vampires started. I need to know that my little brother who I _thought_ couldn’t hurt anyone isn’t a part of this.” 

Charlie’s eyes widen a little. “Series of murders?” He looks at the back of his hand, still red from the blood which was once there, then at himself, before looking at his elder brother. “No. I don’t have anything to do with murders. At least, I don’t think I do.”

“You’re not helping, Chuck.” Don sighs. He guesses Charlie won’t be much help to him. His brother honestly seems to have selective memory loss or some shit similar to it. “Where’s Amita?”

“She’s not here.”

“No shit. That’s why I was asking.”

Charlie bites his lip, his fangs biting in the skin and causing a fine line of blood to trickle down his chin. “I don’t know. I can normally sense her but now I can’t.”

_Sense her? Huh. It must be some vampire thing,_ Don thinks. “What do you think happened to her?”

“I don’t know, Donnie. I don’t want to know.” Charlie wraps his arms around himself, looking small and frail as he did when he was a thirteen year old in high school. “If you hadn’t shot at me, I might have killed. I can’t remember if I killed or not and _dammit_ I don’t want to be a killer!”

Don’s eyes widen as Charlie falls to his knees and starts trembling. The anger and confusion he felt moments ago becomes replaced with big brother concern and he kneels down beside his baby brother. “Hey, buddy, I’m sure you haven’t killed anyone. I know killers. You aren’t one.”

“That was human Charlie. What about new Charlie, the one who can’t control his bloodlust half the time?” The youngest Eppes rests his head against Don’s shoulder and closes his eyes. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore. I’m not used to this, g--” Charlie gags and coughs on that certain word (again). “I’m used to knowing things. This life, what I am, everything, I don’t know shit and it’s terrifying.”

“I know. I don’t know anything either. Learning experience for both of us, right?” Don grins, a half-hearted attempt at best, and musses his brother’s hair. “I’m going to take you back home. Dad’s worried sick about you.”

“No!”

“No? What the hell do you mean, “no”? Charlie, Dad won’t care you’re suddenly,” he airily waves a hand towards Charlie, “this.”

“How do you know? I don’t know if I can control myself around him, Don! I think Amita was always there when it was becoming too much, but now she’s gone and I’m left alone. I can’t…”

“You won’t kill him.” Don thinks for a minute before snapping his fingers. “Fine. We’ll see him long enough to tell him you’re,” he wants to say “alive” but then Don realizes it was the wrong word. “okay and then you’ll stay with me at my place, got it?”

Charlie looks hesitant, but one look from his older brother has him nodding and standing with his help. “Okay. Donnie?”

“Yeah, Chuck?”

“Thank you.”

“Thank me later.”

-v-

In front of the Craftsman, their childhood home, Don looks at Charlie through the corner of his eye before opening the door. It was quiet, so their father may already be asleep, but the elder of the Eppes brothers figures this was something Alan wouldn’t mind being woken up for.   
“Sit there,” he says and Charlie does so without a word. The mathematician shakes like a leaf and his teeth remain clenched, as if he’s fighting off some internal demon. _He probably is,_ Don chides himself. He places a firm hand on his baby brother’s shoulder before treking up the stairs. “Yo, Pops!” 

There’s a noise, like someone was moving off their bed, before Alan pokes his head out of his bedroom. “Donnie, what’s the matter?” the eldest Eppes inquiries, rubbing his eyes. “What time _is_ it?”

“It’s,” a quick glance at his watch, “midnight, but the point isn’t what time it is. The point is, I found Charlie.”

The one phrase seems to snap Alan awake faster than three cups of espresso. “Charlie? Where is he?”

“Downstairs, but Dad… How do I say this. You believe in vampires?”

“Vampires?” Alan lets out a little scoff. “They’re fictional characters, my boy. Why are you asking me such a silly thing at this hour of the morning?”

“They’re real. Charlie’s one.”

“...Charlie is a vampire,” their father repeats, raising both eyebrows and looking skeptical. “How do you know for sure?”

“You’ll see.” Don makes his way downstairs and hears Alan’s footfalls not too far behind him. “He doesn’t know how to control himself. Amita Turned him, but since she’s MIA, he’s by himself. I’m taking him to my apartment and we’re gonna work out something from there.”

“Now you’re telling me Amita’s a vampire?” Alan groans. “Next you’re going to tell me Larry’s one too.”

“Larry’s human,” Charlie says from his spot on the couch. His eyes flicker between red and brown and his nails dig in the fabric of the couch arm, hard enough there’s little tears in it. “Amita said he was LA’s historian when it comes to vampires. Maybe he could help…”

Alan stares at his youngest son with surprise, followed by horror. “Charlie, what’s _wrong_ with you?”

“I can’t… I smell blood everywhere. I hear everything. It hurts. Make it stop…” Charlie lets out a whimper, similar to the sound of a wounded animal and bares his fangs. “Please…”

“Are you sure it was a good idea to bring him here?” Alan asks, sounding trepidated. 

“I did so you could see him and know he was, uh, sort of all right. I’ll take him back to my pla--”

Charlie suddenly lunges on his elder brother, knocking them both to the floor. Don’s eyes widen as his younger brother holds his wrists in a grasp stronger than steel and a loud snarl rips between his teeth. “ _Mine,_ ” he hisses, bringing up one of Don’s wrists and licking the veins there. 

“Charlie!” Alan exclaims, but one look from his oldest son makes him stay where he is. “What are you doing?”

“It’s okay, Dad,” Don reassures, using his years as an FBI agent to look for an opening. He sees one when Charlie looks over at their father and he uses it to flip them, pushing all his weight against him. “Snap out of it, Charlie.”

Charlie lets out an enraged howl and digs his sharpened nails in his brother’s arm, but a murmur of something has him stopping in his tracks. His eyes return to their natural color and he slumps, as if all the fight was drained out of him. 

Raising an eyebrow, Don looks at Alan, who has a phone in his hand. “What was that?”

“That was me,” Larry’s voice comes. “It’s a mantra to calm a newborn vampire’s animalistic side and return them to normal.”

“Huh. When did Dad phone you?”

“Not even two minutes ago. Once he told me what was happening, I knew what I had to do.” There’s a pause before Larry says, “Don, it’s best if I hold on to your brother, at least until he can control himself. You cannot rely on brute strength to win against a vampire.”

“I think that’s a great idea,” Alan pipes up. “We don’t want him--”

“Dad,” Don says with a sharp look. “Don’t go there.”

“Anyway,” Larry says, breaking the tense silence, “you know where I live. Bring him over anytime tonight.”

With a click, the call disconnects.

-v-

“It’s safer this way,” Charlie murmurs, causing Don to give him a sideways glance of confusion. “Larry knows what he’s doing. If I somehow go insane, he can fix it. If I ever hurt you or Dad, I…”

“You didn’t and you won’t either,” Don reassures, giving Charlie’s arm a firm pat before focusing on the road. “You’ll be back to your old self in no time at all, you’ll see.”

“Yeah…” the youngest Eppes mumbles, seemingly to himself. They get to Larry’s five minutes later and Charlie looks over at his brother. “You should get some sleep. It’s late and you have to work tomorrow.”

“You’ll be okay?”

“I will be. Go on, Donnie.” Charlie gives a half hearted smile and gets out of the SUV. “See you later.”

Charlie enters Larry’s apartment, leaving Don to stare for a few moments before shaking himself and driving away.

-v-

“Morning.”

Don blinks. He looks over at who spoke to him and nods as he makes his morning coffee. He was functioning on four hours of sleep and it combined with the events of earlier this morning causes him to be slower than normal. “Mornin’.”

“What’s up with you?” Liz asks as she sits on the table across from her boss. “You look like the walking dead.”

He grits his teeth at the phrase. He might have found it humorous if his brother wasn’t that exact thing. “Four hours of sleep does that,” Don mutters in response, taking a mouthful of liquid energy. “I owe you all an apology for yesterday.”

“Don Eppes is apologizing?” Liz says, her voice full of humor. “Next you’ll be telling me you have a steady girlfriend.”

“Ha ha, very funny.”

The female agent snickers, but she gives him a look of concern soon afterwards. “You found out something about Charlie, didn’t you.” It was more a statement than a question, but Don assumes everyone knows he’s off when something happened to younger brother.

He pulls down his shirt, revealing the puncture marks Charlie caused. “Does this answer your question?”

Liz says nothing for a few seconds before a little sigh exits her lips. “Charlie’s a vampire, then. Where he is now?”

“Larry’s looking after him. He’s apparently LA’s historian when it comes to them.” Don fixes his shirt and exits the kitchen, Liz following soon after. “What did you find out about the murders?”

“There’s another group killing off any vampire that comes in their sights. LAPD found this,” she hands her boss a file, “yesterday.”

Don takes a quick look through it. There were multiple stakes covered in a thin film of blood, bottles of what he guesses is holy water strewn about, and various religious symbols scattered throughout the area. “Did they find anything besides this?”

“A couple of bodies, but they were badly burnt. Forensics was barely able to get prints off them.” Liz sighs. “I think one of them is Amita. The hair was similar and the outfit looked like something she’d wear.”

_Shit._ “Amita is, or was, Charlie’s sire. What happens when they die?”

“Newborn vampires go insane. They need their sire’s blood or blood similar to it in order to maintain sanity.” She pauses and glances at her boss. “Something tells me your blood will work.”

“Mine? Why the hell would mine work?”

“You’re his brother. You’ve kept him sane through all the cases we’ve been through. You have a bond and it can probably be used to keep him from giving in to his inner self.” Liz blinks when Don grabs his jacket. “Where are you going?”

“Tell ‘em I’ll be back later,” is all he says before he exits the bullpen.

-v-

Don throws a knock at Larry’s old wooden door. It takes a minute, but the physicist opens it and gives him a confused stare. “Don. What brings you here?”

“How’s Charlie?” 

“Charles? He’s sleeping at the moment. He has his moments, and some are harder than others, but overall I think he’ll be okay.” Larry moves to sit on the couch, waving a hand to signify he should do the same. “I wouldn’t advise taking him back-...”

“Liz told me something,” Don cuts in, setting himself in the nearest chair. “My blood might work to help calm him. Amita’s, well, we think Amita’s really dead, so we have no other options, right?”

Larry sucks in a breath. He rubs his temples and sighs, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. “Yes, without his sire’s blood, Charles will go permanently insane. We don’t have any other choice.”

“What do you have to do?”

Larry gets up and goes to the kitchen, returning with a coffee mug and a knife. “I am unsure how you feel about self mutilation, yet this is the only way to test the theory.”

“I don’t care; as long as Charlie’s gonna be okay in the end,” Don says with conviction. He takes the mug and knife, then runs the blade down his arm, wincing at the sting. He watches with fascination and just a little disgust as blood pours in the mug. “Is this enough?” Don asks when the blood flow stops. 

The physicist hands Don a towel and looks at the blood. “Yes, this should be a sufficient amount. I’ll give it to Charlie when he’s awake.”

“And if it works?” he asks, pressing the towel against the wound. “What then?”

“He’ll have to drink from you every two days. Blood from the butcher should suffice to quench his normal bloodlust, but you’ll know the difference when his eyes start changing.”

“He drank from me once before and his eyes did that when we were at our Dad’s-...”

“Your father told me he drained blood from meat he had for supper. It was likely due to being around so much blood at once,” Larry clarifies. “Why don’t you come see him? It’s one way to test the theory,” he adds in at Don’s skeptical look.

“Yeah, sure.” Don nods, gets up, and follows Larry in a room. The curtains cut out all sources of natural light; the sole light comes from a little bedside lamp and Charlie grunts before settling again. “This is his life now, isn’t it?” he says to himself, sitting on the edge of the bed. He reaches out, stroking his brother’s hair momentarily before pulling back. 

“He seems calmer when you’re here,” Larry muses. Don makes a noncommittal noise of acknowledgement, his eyes focused on his brother’s face. “Don, there’s something I have to tell you. I don’t know how well you’ll take it.”

“What is it?” 

“Newborn vampires and their sires--their relationship is often sexual.” 

“Sexual?” Don raises an eyebrow and his eyes flicker from Charlie to Larry. “I can’t fulfill any sexual desire; I’m his _brother _!”__

__“That factoid is fairly obvious.” Larry taps his chin. “The sexual part is a fraction of what keeps newborns sane. You don’t have to for long… A month and he should be fine.”_ _

__“Shit.”_ _

__-v-_ _

__It’s late before Don returns to Larry’s. Ever since finding out he would have to engage in some kind of sexual relationship with his goddamned _brother_ to help him with his newfound self, it was something he finds himself thinking back to, even with the murders of citizens and vampires on his hands._ _

__Don knocks on the door and waits, but it’s only a few seconds before it opens and a cold, firm body presses against him. “Don, I missed you _so much_ ,” Charlie practically purrs, causing the elder brother to raise both eyebrows. “Did you come to see me?”_ _

__“Uh, yeah. How you doin’, buddy?” Don inquiries, moving away from Charlie to sit on one of Larry’s old, worn couches. His brother takes a seat fairly close to him and presses against him again. “Charlie, are you all right?”_ _

__“I need you,” Charlie says, leaning forward. Don barely has time to register what was happening before cold lips press against his. His first instinct is _run, get away from this fucked up situation as fast as you can_ , yet the other part tells him this is what his baby brother needs in order to function, to start his new life as a nightwalker, so he sighs and gives himself over to Charlie._ _

__Charlie lets out a breathy little moan (though from what little knowledge Don has on vampires, they don’t need to breathe, so he has no idea _why_ Charlie did such a thing) and moves so he’s straddling his brother’s lap. “You’re so much better than Amita,” Charlie whispers in Don’s ear. “So much better.”_ _

__“Oh yeah?” Don asks, letting cockiness bleed in his voice which he didn’t feel, not really. “Why don’t you show me how good I am, eh little brother?”_ _

__Charlie snarls and rips his elder brother’s shirt, carelessly tossing the fabric on the floor. “ _Mine,_ ” he hisses, nipping and sucking on the sensitive skin between Don’s neck and shoulder. _ _

__“Hey, that was one of my good shirts,” Don mutters, but his annoyance quickly dies when Charlie finds a sensitive spot. “ _Fuck._ ”_ _

__“No one else can do this to you,” Charlie whispers harshly, mapping his way down with lips and tongue and fangs. “I’ll kill anyone who does.”_ _

__“Whoa, easy there. You won’t be killing anyone.”_ _

__Charlie looks up through his lashes and gives a little grin at his brother’s words. “I won’t if it bothers you, but I’ll make them remember not to touch what belongs to _me_ ,” he snarls, his hands finding their way to Don’s belt. _ _

__Don still can’t believe they’re doing this--they’re fucking brothers, no pun intended--but when Charlie’s hands stroke him through the cotton of his boxers, nothing seems to matter besides the body above him._ _

__He is human, after all._ _

__-v-_ _

__Afterwards, Don watches Charlie as the younger brother watches a stupid soap opera on Larry’s old television. Charlie’s body was free of marks except for scars he obtained when he was human and instead of the peach color normal skin was, it was more of a white-gray. Don thinks he should be freaked out by this, but instead, he feels the same love and affection he always felt for his baby brother. Charlie would always be Charlie, even if he was anything but human now._ _

__“Why are you staring at me?” Charlie’s voice asks, breaking the elder brother out of his thoughts. “Was it too weird for you?”_ _

__“It’s what we need to do from now on,” Don replies, as if those words solve everything. “Or for a month, at least. I’m not going to have you go insane if I can do something to prevent it.”_ _

__Charlie hums and rests his head against Don’s chest, a lazy smile working its way on his face. “Your heart. It sounds… nice.”_ _

__“You have one too.”_ _

__The mathematician shakes his head. “Not anymore. I know enough about vampires to know I’m dead now, Donnie.”_ _

__“Maybe, but you’re still the same pain-in-the-ass brother I know and I love,” Don says with a little grin and a tousle of Charlie’s hair. “No matter what you are, that won’t ever change.”_ _

__“Love…” Charlie looks at Don with slightly wide eyes. “You love me?”_ _

__“I know I don’t say it enough, but yeah, I do. Even if we’re,” he waves vaguely between them, “whatever we are now.”_ _

__Charlie smiles and wraps his arms around his brother, and for once in his life, Don doesn’t pull away from embarrassment. Instead, he wraps his arms around his little brother and rests his chin on his curls._ _

__There were still bizarre murders to solve and it stung a little that Charlie lost the sun, yet in the end, Don figures it’ll all be okay._ _

__They still have each other._ _


End file.
